Events
Columbia City Ballet to Present Off the Wall and Onto the Stage at Charleston’s Gaillard Auditorium
06/21/2011
Off the Wall and Onto the Stage: Dancing the Art of Jonathan Green, the ballet that gives life to the magnificent images of Jonathan Green’s art through the imaginative choreography of Columbia City Ballet's Executive and Artistic Director William Starrett, will be presented October 14-15 at the Gaillard Auditorium. The event is sponsored by the Charleston Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority in partnership with Ladies Enriching the Community Incorporated (LETC).
This is a long awaited return of the production, which media critics’ herald as the greatest addition to Columbia City Ballet’s repertoire. The collaboration of still art and dance was first conceived by Starrett in 2002 after he met Jonathan Green at the SC Art’s Commission’s Vernor Awards ceremony where Starrett was being honored with the award. Green, a previous recipient of the award, was speaking at the ceremony. The two discovered they were each long time admirers of the other's work, and the collaboration quickly took on all the characteristics of a cultural phenomenon.
Green is internationally known for his vibrantly colorful art depicting Gullah life in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. As the first known artist of Gullah heritage to receive formal training at a professional art school, the Art Institute of Chicago, Green has created more than 1,700 works that capture the unique African-American culture he considers his own.
Off the Wall and Onto the Stage infuses Green’s rich, vibrant colors onto the stage through the backdrops and scrims while the music -- an exhilarating, inspiring combination of traditional work songs, gospel music, Motown, classical and jazz -- breathe life into the paintings’ intriguing characters. The company's “bevy of brilliant dancers” (The Greenville News, Greenville SC) depict the cultural heritage of the Gullah and Geechee communities -- a veritable treasure of friendship and family, work and love, spirituality and belonging. The combination of the three art forms attracted the attention of the national and international art world as a new model for innovative, multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural productions based on uniquely American themes.
The 1.2 million dollar production was three years in the making and features over 150 costumes hand-made by a team of seamstresses to match the clothing, called “kaleidoscopic” by The Greenville News, worn by the characters in Green’s paintings. The “eye-popping” custom scrims and backdrops made in Sweden and New York duplicate the landscapes and settings depicted in the paintings, “…creating the illusion that the subjects…step from the images and onto the stage” according to The Tampa Tribune.
The production has toured to outstanding critical reviews. The New York Times called the production “…fabulous…an ingenious idea…striking…”, while the Tampa Tribune wrote “Columbia City Ballet’s visually smashing Off the Wall & Onto the Stage…brought the house down…This is a well thought-out slick production without inhibitions, which makes it exhilarating in spirit and downright sexy in the flesh.”
New paintings come to life this season with two new breathtaking scrims and live performances by the nationally acclaimed, award-winning Benedict College Gospel Choir. This dynamic, energetic, spirit-filled group of young people, under the direction of Rev. Darryl Izzard, is one of the Southeast's premier choirs and has been heard by millions through television and radio appearances across the globe. The production will also feature the return of South Carolina actress and gospel singer Marlena Smalls, who will reprise the role of Bessie Mae, personifying the character from the Jonathan Green painting of the same name and will sing live when the painting of “Silver Slipper Dance Hall” comes to life. Smalls, best known for her role as Bubba’s Mama in the Academy Award-winning film Forrest Gump, is the founder of The Hallelujah Singers. She will also sing her original hit song “Carry Me Home” for the “Love of the Harvest” ballet.
The company will present Off the Wall & Onto the Stage in a 3 p.m. matinee and a 7:30 p.m. evening performance on Saturday, October 15. In addition to the Saturday production, Green and Starrett will co-host two Educational Outreach performances at 9:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. Friday, October 14, for Charleston area public school children and various art students.
For information on the production, contact the Columbia City Ballet at 803-799-7605. Ticket prices range from $60.00 orchestra, $45 mezzanine, $25 balcony, group purchase discounts are also available. Tickets may be purchased through Ticketmaster at the Gaillard Auditorium Box Office (843) 577-7400 or online at www.ticketmaster.com.
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